Cognitive Rehabilitation Multi-family Group Intervention for Individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Their Care-Partners

Abstract

There is increasing need for early, pro-active programs that can delay dementia diagnosis and enhance well-being of individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and their care-partners (i.e., care-dyads). This randomized controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of a combined cognitive rehabilitation and multi-family group treatment (CR-MFG) that was designed to facilitate adoption of newly learned cognitive strategies into the care-dyads everyday lives. Analyzed data included 23 care-dyads who participated in CR-MFG treatment and 23 care-dyads in standard care (SC). The 3-month intervention consisted of individual joining sessions, an educational workshop, and 20/twice weekly multifamily memory strategy training and problem-solving sessions. Everyday functioning, memory, and psychological functioning (i.e., quality-of-life, depression, coping) were assessed. The CR-MFG intervention was associated with significant post-test group differences and improved post-test performances by the MCI participants on performance-based measures of everyday functioning and neuropsychological tests of memory. There was also some suggestion that CR-MFG care-partners perceived positive change in the everyday functioning of the MCI participants. In contrast, no post-test group differences were found for either care-dyad member on the self-report psychological measures; care-partners in the treatment group did self-report improved coping behaviors at post-test. These 3-month results are preliminary but suggestive that CR-MFG may produce modest, practical everyday functional benefits for persons with MCI. (JINS, 2014, 20, 897-908)

Cognitive Therapy for Dementia Patients: A Systematic Review

“…Olchik et al [53] compared measurements with healthy controls and found that verbal fluency and behavioral memory improved significantly. Furthermore, Schmitter-Edgecombe and Dyck [56] found that patients improved some of their memory scores better than controls; the same was found by Suzuki et al [58].…”

Everyday Impact of Cognitive Interventions in Mild Cognitive Impairment: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Three studies used interventions with a combination of cognitive strategy training, psychoeducation, and social skills training components (Joosten-Weyn Banningh et al 2011; Joosten-Weyn Banningh et al 2013; Schmitter-Edgecombe and Dyck 2014). Two studies (Hwang et al 2012; Law et al 2014) utilized interventions with computerized and non-computerized cognitive training components.…”

“…Two studies saw improvement on ADL rating scales with cognitive plus physical interventions (Kurz et al 2009; Lam et al 2015) and one saw positive impact with cognitive plus psychological interventions (Tsolaki et al 2011). Schmitter-Edgecombe and Dyck (2014), using cognitive plus psychological interventions, found improvements on performance-based measures of ADLs involving bill-paying and money management activities. Two studies utilizing the Bayer-ADL scale (B-ADL; Hindmarch et al 1998) saw inconsistent improvement.…”

“…Mood outcomes were mixed (assessed in 4/10 studies), with two cognitive plus physical interventions (Kurz et al 2009; Lam et al 2015) showing improvement, and two cognitive plus psychological interventions (Joosten-Weyn Banningh et al 2011; Schmitter-Edgecombe and Dyck 2014), showing no improvement upon intervention end. The two studies that did not find improvements in mood used a short form version of the GDS (Yesavage et al 1983).…”

“…QOL was assessed in four of the studies (Hwang et al 2012; Joosten-Weyn Banningh et al 2011; Reuter et al 2012; Schmitter-Edgecombe and Dyck 2014), and most of these studies identified no impact. QOL improved in a cognitive plus psychological training intervention (Joosten-Weyn Banningh et al 2011) using the RAND-36-Dutch (Van der Zee and Sanderman 1993).…”